ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Control what you can control. That was the message Coach Heather Dyche delivered during one of four lightning delays during Thursday night’s match against Grand Canyon. UNM couldn’t control the weather, but when play resumed, the Lobos controlled the match, winning 4-1 after building a 3-0 lead at the half.
The Lobos had four different goal scorers with Kennedy Brown getting the scoring started 19:10 into the match, Alysa Whelchel scoring nine minutes later and Nicole Anderson making it 3-0 with a goal in the 38th minute. Mercedes Morris made it 4-0 in the 58th minute before GCU got a goal with 1:04 left in the match.
Of note, Morris assisted on Brown’s goal, Anderson assisted on Whelchel’s goal and Whelchel assisted on Morris’ goal for all three finishing with three points, including a career high for Morris. Morgan Juran assisted on Anderson’s goal for her first assist of the season. For Brown, it was her second goal of the season, the first for Morris, the fourth for Whelchel and the fifth for Anderson.
After two delays pushed the start time back, the Lobos made it 8:56 before a lightning strike paused play and the teams cleared the field. Following another strike that reset the clock for the fourth delay, the Lobos and Lopes exchanged shots on goals with the respective keepers making the save. An Alejandra Puerto shot that went high in the 12th minute preceded another shot by Puerto that was initially saved but not brought in with Whelchel attempting to poke the ball in, which was also saved (13:33). Another shot by Puerto in the 17th minute was wide left and a shot by Anderson was also saved, however, it did set up a corner kick that the Lobos converted on.
A corner kick taken by Anderson was served into the box, with it hitting off of Brown, Morris getting a foot on the ball, and the ball ending up back with Brown, who buried it into the bottom left of the net.
UNM attempted three more shots with one blocked and two saved before the Lobos doubled their lead at 28:15 on the clock, with Morris, Whelchel and Anderson again involved.
Morris cut it back into the far side of the box, finding a streaking Anderson who took a shot from the middle of the box. While the GCU goalkeeper was able to get a hand on it, the Lope wasn’t able to gather it, with Whelchel there to collect it, side stepped the goalie, and went bottom right past a sliding Lope defender for the goal.
UNM made it 3-0 at the 37:21 mark with Juran dribbling down the near sideline and crossing it into the middle of the box with Anderson a step on her defender cutting into the box, getting a foot onto it in perfect stride and going bottom right for the goal.
The score held for the remainder of the half, with UNM holding a 13-5 shot advantage and 9-3 advantage in shots on goal in the half.
Alyson Campbell was called on to made a save shortly after play resumed, which while it led to consecutive corner kicks, didn’t amount to a goal as Campbell recorded another save. Morris’ shot at 54:38 was saved, but less than three minutes later, converted in open space with a laser to the top right corner for the goal and 4-0 Lobo lead.
A corner kick in the 89th minute led to GCU getting on the board for the final score. GCU outshot UNM 10-6 in the second half with each team taking four shots on goal. Campbell finished with five saves with the team recording a save in the win.
UNM (6-2-4, 2-0-2 MW) heads to Nevada for a Sunday afternoon match on the Mountain West Network.